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Third
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| Editorial Reviews: | | |  | | Portishead's Third has been a long time coming, the result of a lengthy creative torpor following 1997's dark, distinctly underrated album Portishead. Importantly, though, they've shaken it. While the core trio of Beth Gibbons, Geoff Barrow, and Adrian Utley remains, this is quite a different band to Portishead's 90s incarnation: gone is the slo-mo turntable scratching and smoky jazz feel, replaced by heavy, brooding rhythms, vintage-sounding electronics, and spindly guitar. Still present, though, is that sense of emotional fracture and deep gloom. "Silence" opens with a dense drum loop which suddenly falls away to reveal Gibbons' voice, cold but magnificent: "Wounded and afraid, inside my head/Falling through changes". "Nylon Smile", meanwhile, is a fine example of Third's occasional folksy edge, an acoustic song reminiscent of Leonard Cohen that, around its midpoint, lifts off on a propulsive electronic rhythm, Gibbons holding one clear, hard note as synthesisers bubble beneath. At times, it's a harsh and foreboding listen: the electronic drums of "Machine Gun" might put off the listener hoping for smooth dinner party fare. But Third is a brave and forward-thinking return, and one great enough to justify its lengthy gestation. --Louis Pattison | |
| Custom Reviews: | |
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| | only one thing to say remember to play this album as a 45 not a 33 sounds silly but thats how they set it up...
| | Converting the Unconverted | |
| | This is a genuinely avant-garde album, with all kinds of unexpected twists and turns. It is not tuneful the way of trip hop--this album is more "out there."
I didn't like their earlier records all that much, they didn't seem to do "tuneful" trip hop as well as, say, Morcheeba, and the odd touches they threw in struck me as relatively tame.
Very little about this records is tame. I wouldn't recommend this one for everyone, but if your musical tastes are edgy, this is definitely worth checking out.
| | A nice and refreshing listen. | |
| | 2008 could not have possibly been a better time for me to hear a new Portishead album. My fandom is probably bigger than it's ever been before and the fact that it does not repeat the classic formula via crowd pleasing makes it all the more engaging a listen. And the album doesn't even sound that un-Portishead in the first place. It's possibly not the strongest album they've released yet but there's plenty of quality material to be found here.
And it's not like the songs themselves sound individually the same either. You get "We Carry On," possibly their most dancefloor ready song ever. And then it follows right up with the lo-fi field recording sound of "Deep Water" and the fantastic drum-machine centered "Machine Gun," which fits the violent theme of the lyrics just perfectly. It's one of their greatest songs and total brilliance. Also, some of these songs end where they seem like they wouldn't or shouldn't. You expect Gibbons to sing more on "Nylon Smile" or the music to continue on "Silence" at first instead of their abrupt endings.
This record is something truly creative and worth investing in if you have any taste for the group. I mean, 11 years really has paid off here! Sure I'd like those traditional trip-hop songs but I think in the end that "Third" is more rewarding than that ever could have been.
| | | Eleven years is a long time between releases. It's been awhile since their albums were in heavy rotation on my playlist, but this sounds just as good if not better than anything they've out out. I can't understand people waiting eleven years and then being disappointed that the new album is not exactly like the last one. Things change, I guess a lot of people don't, or are in denial. Anyway, you would recognize this as a Portishead album immediately on hearing, and it's new, different, and good.
| | 60 psychedelic meets modern electronics.... | |
| | While this release is highly anticipated anyone expecting to get a rehash of the 1990's trip-hop Portishead may be let down upon first listen. Gone are those jazzy drums and record scratches, instead it's replaced with a buzzing rhythm of analogue synthesizers. Another problem is that when a band got a big in the 1990's and defined a sound as they did then it's hard to expect them to blow you away upon first listen.
The real gem of this release is that Third grows on you, it's a deep record with the trademark Portishead mood, although this time there are some real 60's psychedelic feelings on it. Also vocally Beth Gibbons is as tortured as ever it comes out in the lyrics. This is a great moody record for a rainy day and if you want to listen to Dummy then put that record on, but if you want to hear what a brilliant band has to say in 2008 then you will love this album. It's one of my favorites that gets regular play on my CD player....
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